Web-holder cam mechanism for knitting machines



F. E. JONES Dec. 11, 1923.

WEB HOLDER CAM MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Imeow:

Patented ec. 11 1323.

FRANK E.- JONES, OF PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO HEMPHILL COM- PANY, OF CENTRAL FALLS, RHODE ISLAND,

A CORPORATION OF SSACHUSETTS.

WEB-HOLDER CAM MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

Application filed April 18, 1922. Serial No. 554,841;

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I FRANK E. JoNEs, a citizen of the United states, and a resident of Pawtucket, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented an Improvement in VVeb-Holder Cam Mechanism for Knitting Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specifica- 19 tion, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to knitting machines and particularly to spring needle knitting machines, and more especially to W devices for automatically advancing and retracting web holdercams in reciprocating knitting.

In order that the principle of the invention may be readily understood, I have disclosed a single embodiment thereof in the accompanying drawing, whereinig. '1 is a view mainly in plan but partially in horizontal section of a web holder cam ring comprising inner and outer ring members and having my' invention applied thereto; a

Fig. 2 is a vertical section upon the line 22 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a detail in plan of a portion of 39 the structure shown in Fig. 1.

The invention may be illustrated in con nection with any suitable type of knitting machine, but herein I have chosen to show it embodied in or used with a circular knitting machine involving certain characteristics of a so-called Banner machine disclosed in the Hemphill Patent No. 933,443, dated September 7, 1909. In these types of machines, the needle carrier is cylindrical and contains a circular series of independently movable needles, the cam ring being stationary while the needle cylinder carrier is arranged to reciprocate or rotate Obviously, however, the needle cylinder may be arranged as non-movable while the cam ring may have imparted thereto a rotary or reciprocatory motion. The invention in. its broader aspects is'applicable to straight bar knitting machines as well as to the rotary type, and is capable of producing various articles of manufacture, although in thepresent example the machine is adapted for producing hosiery, and while inthe follow ing description the broad example will be "5 shown and referred to in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is in no wise limited to such application thereof. In the drawing, neither the needle cylinder nor the cam ring is shown, but preferably I employ independently operated spring beard needles and provide a web holder 'bed which is secured to and rotatable with the rotatable elements, herein the needle cylinder. The

said needles are reciprocated in grooves by suitable knitting cams of the construction which may be characteristic of the said Banner knitting machine Rotary and reciprocatory movements are imparted to said needle cylinder in the usual well known manner. Yarn feeding means are provided to introduce yarn to the stems of the needles at the proper time, and these yarn feedin means are so positioned as to eflect the feed ing of the yarn tothe needles during the movement of the needle cylinder in opposite direction when knitting reciprocatingly or during rotary knitting. Cooperating with the needles in the formation of the knitting fabric are a plurality of web holders not herein shown, and which desirably have an upper nib adjacent the forward end thereof and a lower nib' I constituting a work supporting member, said upper and lower nibs being separated by a slot constituting the throat of the web holder. The 'web holders are given the usual radial movement in suitable grooves provided in the bed during the loop forming operations of the needles b a suitable web holder advancing cam an web holder outthrow cams whereby a wave will be described by the inner ends of the nibs of said web holders at the proper time to cooperate with the needles when functioned by the knitting cams.

In the disclosed embodiment of the invention the cam ring is composed of an inner ring 1 and an outer ring 2 concentric with each other and havin their up er faces flush, as clearly shown in Fig. '2. esirably one of saidrin and herein the inner ring 1 is provide with presser means for the spring beards of the needles, such means being herein embodied in the presser cams 3, 4 secured by screws 5, 6 to the upper surface of the said ring 1. One of the rings and desirably the outer ring 2 is provided with two web holder advancing cams 7, 8 secured by screws to the under face of the said ring 2 and desirably in such a 'anner that they maybe individually adjusted radially, as by providing radial slots to receive the holding screws. The remaining cam or cams are desirably carried by the ring -1, and my invention particularly relates to the web holder out-throw cams, which, iii the disclosed embodiment of the invention, are represented as composed of two cam members 9, 10, herein shown ashaving a common pivot 11, about which they may be rocked. To permit such rock- ZlL tween the yarn guide and the point in the knitting wave where the needle beard passes the infeeding yarn. The rings 1, 2 are conc'entrically arranged and so constructed as relatively to move circumferentially with respect to each other for a limited distance. Desirably, but not necessarily, the outer ring 2 is held substantially fixed, as by means of a bracket 16 secured by screws 17, 18 to said ring 2. Said bracket is provided with spaced arms 19, 20 having screws 21, 22 adapted to engage at all times or alternately at the desired times with a post 23 projecting upwardly from the framing of the machine. The outer ring 2 may be provided with a member 24 secured to its upper face by screws 25 and projecting as at 26 over the inner rin 1, so as to hold it in position.

The ree ends of the cams 9, 10, as stated, have upstanding pins or studs 14, 15. Desirably each of said pins or studs has a flange 27 bearing against the upper surface of the ring member for the purpose of supporting the free end of the cam, yet permitting said cam ends to swing laterally a distance equal to the length of the slots 12, 13, through which the said upstanding pins or studs project. The inner ring member 1 is given the usual shogging movement necessaryto position the cams 9, 1'0 properly with respect to the knitting wave, one of said waves functioning during the movement of the web holders in the forward direction, while the other cam functions during the movement of said web holders in a reverse direction. I

Generally and in the disclosed embodiment of the invention, the outer ring member 2 is stationary, being held so by the usual web holder cam ring stops already described. In the present embodiment of the invention, as is generally the case, the friction of the web holders upon the advancing and the retracting cams is relied upon to effect the shogging movements of the inner ring member 1, and this shogging movement is utilized to advance or retract the free ends of the engage the said pins or studs 14, 15 during the latter portion of the movements of the said ring 1 in opposite directions. The ends of the cam grooves 28, 29 are desirably flared, as indicated at 36, 37, to insure the entrance of the studs therewithin. Relative movement between the inner and outer rings 1, 2m'ay be limited or varied as desired, and herein this is accomplished by providing adjustable abutments 38, 39 in the plates or housings 30, 31, against which the pins or studs 14, 15 will strike after sutlicient move ment of the inner ring member 1 with respect to the outer ring member 2 has taken place so as correctly to position the web holder cams 9, 10 with respect to the knitting wave.

Assuming the parts to be shown in Fig. 1, with the needle cylinder moving in the direction of the arrow A, the friction of the web holders acting upon the various cam surfaces of the pivoted members 9, 10, will cause the inner ring member 1 to move with said web holders relatively to the outer ring member 2. This movement of said inner ring member 2 causes the pin or stud 14 to engage the inclines of the cam slot 28 and to be moved inwardly while the stud 15 engages the cam slot 29 and is moved outwardly, and as these cams move in or out, as the case may be, the web holders which happen to be in engagement therewith will likewise be moved in a corresponding direction radially of the needle cylinder or cam ring to their proper positions with respect to the knitting needles. T he tension upon the web holders due to the spring band which surrounds the series thereof, is sufficient to retain the cam whose stud is unsupported by its cam in its innermost position.

The friction brought to bear by the circumferentially moving web holders upon the cams 9, 10 is sufficient to overcome the resistance offered by the web holders against being moved'radially by the swinging movements of the cams 9, 10, when their pins or studs 14, 15 engage the cam slots 28, 29.

Having thus described one illustrative embodiment of my invention, I desire it to be understood that although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descrlptive sense and not for purposes of li'mitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims.

tion of one of said cam means in each direction of reciprocating knitting.

2. In web holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concen trically arranged rings, retracting cammeans carried by one of said rings, advancing cam means carried by the other of said rings, said cam means being operable in both directions of reciprocating knitting, and means automatically to shift the position of one of said cam means at substantially the end of each movement of reciprocating lmitting.

3. In web holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair ofconcentrically arranged rings, retracting cam means carried by one of said rings, advancing cam means carried by the other of said rings, said cam means being operable in both directions of reciprocating knitting, and means automatically to shift the position of one of said cam means at the end of reciprocating movement in each direction.

4. In web holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concentrically arranged rings, retracting cam ifleans carried by one of said rings, advanci g cam means carried by the other of said rings, said cam means being operable in both directions of reciprocating knitting, and means to change the position of said retracting cam means at each end of reciprocating movement of the knitting mechanism.

5. In web holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concentrically arranged rings, retracting cam means carried by one of said rings, advancing cam means carried by the other of said rings,said cam means being operable in both directions of reciprocating knitting, and means to change the position of said retracting cam means at each end of reci rocating movement of the knitting mechanism, and means to vary the movement of said cam means.

6. In web holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a air of concentrically arranged rings, a pair of advancing cams carried by one of said rings, a pair of pivoted retracting cams carried by the other of said rings and means automatically to vary the position of said pivoted retracting cams alternately at the-ends of the respective reciprocating movements of the knitting mechanism.

7. In web-holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concen: trically arranged rings, retracting cam means carried by one of said rings, advancing cam means carried by the other of said rings, said cam means being operable in both directions of reciprocating knitting, and means carried by one of said rings to change the radial position of a cam carried by the other of said rings.

8. In web-holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concentrically arranged rings, retracting cam means carried by one of said rings, advancing cam means carried by the other of said rings, said cam means being operable in both directions of reciprocating knitting, and means carried by one of said rings to shift in and out a cam carried by the other of said rings.

9. In Web-holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concentrically arranged rings, retracting cam means carried byv one of said rings, advancing cam means carried by the other of said rings, said cam means being operable in both directions 'of reciprocating knitting, and means carried by the ring which itself carries the advancing cam means, to change the radial position of the retracting cam.

10. In vweb-holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concentrically arranged rings, retracting cam means carried by one of said rings, advancing cam means carried by the other of said rings,

too

said cam means being operable in both directions of reciprocating knitting, and means carried by the ring which itself carries the advancing cam means to change upon each stroke of reciprocation the radial position of a retracting cam. v

11. In Web-holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concentrically arranged rings, a pair of retracting cams carried by one ,ofsaid rings, apair of advancing cams carried by the other of said rings and spaced apart circumferentially further than said retracting cams, said several cams being operable respectively in both directions of reciprocating knitting, and

means carried by the ring which carries the advancing cams to change upon alternate strokes of reciprocation the radial position of the respective retracting cams.

12. In web-holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concentri cally arranged rings, a pair of advancing cams carried by one of said rings, a pivoted retracting cam carried by the other of said rings, and means automatically to vary the position of said pivoted cam at substantially the end of a reciprocating movement of the knitting mechanism.

13. In web-holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concen trio, curved members, a pair of advancing cams carried by one of said members, a pair of pivoted retracting cams carried by the other of said members, and means automatically to vary the position of said pivoted retracting cams alternately upon reciprocating movements of the knitting mechanism. i

14. In web-holder cam mechanism for circular knitting machines, a pair of concentrio, curved members, a pair of advancing cams carried by one of said members, a-pair of pivoted retracting cams carried by the other of said members, and means automati- 15 cally to vary the position of said pivoted evaoeo retracting cams at the ends of the reciproeating movements of the knitting mechanism.

15. In web-ho1def cam mechanism for circular-knitting machines, a pair of concentrically arranged rings, a pair of advancing cams carried by one of said rings, a pair of pivoted retracting cams carried by the other.

of said rings, and means automaticaily to vary the position of said pivoted retracting cam alternately upon reciprocating movements of the knitting mechanism. 1

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

' FRANK E. JONES. 

